Slavery in Massachusetts E-Book

Henry David Thoreau

• Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 30

Beschreibung

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American philosopher and naturalist best known for writing Walden and Civil Disobedience. This version of Thoreaus Slavery in Massachusetts includes a table of contents.

Leseprobe

Slavery in Massachusetts

I LATELY ATTENDED a meeting of the citizens of Concord, expecting,

as one among many, to speak on the subject of slavery in

Massachusetts; but I was surprised and disappointed to find that

what had called my townsmen together was the destiny of Nebraska,

and not of Massachusetts, and that what I had to say would be entirely

out of order. I had thought that the house was on fire, and not the

prairie; but though several of the citizens of Massachusetts are now

in prison for attempting to rescue a slave from her own clutches,

not one of the speakers at that meeting expressed regret for it, not

one even referred to it. It was only the disposition of some wild

lands a thousand miles off which appeared to concern them. The

inhabitants of Concord are not prepared to stand by one of their own

bridges, but talk only of taking up a position on the highlands beyond

the Yellowstone River. Our Buttricks and Davises and Hosmers are

retreating thither, and I fear that they will leave no Lexington

Common between them and the enemy. There is not one slave in Nebraska;

there are perhaps a million slaves in Massachusetts.

 They who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and

always to face the facts. Their measures are half measures and

makeshifts merely. They put off the day of settlement indefinitely,

and meanwhile the debt accumulates. Though the Fugitive Slave Law

had not been the subject of discussion on that occasion, it was at

length faintly resolved by my townsmen, at an adjourned meeting, as

I learn, that the compromise compact of 1820 having been repudiated by

one of the parties, “Therefore,… the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 must

be repealed.” But this is not the reason why an iniquitous law

should be repealed. The fact which the politician faces is merely that

there is less honor among thieves than was supposed, and not the

fact that they are thieves.

 As I had no opportunity to express my thoughts at that meeting, will

you allow me to do so here?

 Again it happens that the Boston Court-House is full of armed men,

holding prisoner and trying a MAN, to find out if he is not really a

SLAVE. Does any one think that justice or God awaits Mr. Loring’s

decision? For him to sit there deciding still, when this question is

already decided from eternity to eternity, and the unlettered slave

himself and the multitude around have long since heard and assented to

the decision, is simply to make himself ridiculous. We may be

tempted to ask from whom he received his commission, and who he is

that received it; what novel statutes he obeys, and what precedents

are to him of authority. Such an arbiter’s very existence is an

impertinence. We do not ask him to make up his mind, but to make up

his pack.

 I listen to hear the voice of a Governor, Commander-in-Chief of

the forces of Massachusetts. I hear only the creaking of crickets

and the hum of insects which now fill the summer air. The Governor’s

exploit is to review the troops on muster days. I have seen him on

horseback, with his hat off, listening to a chaplain’s prayer. It

chances that that is all I have ever seen of a Governor. I think

that I could manage to get along without one. If he is not of the

least use to prevent my being kidnapped, pray of what important use is

he likely to be to me? When freedom is most endangered, he dwells in

the deepest obscurity. A distinguished clergyman told me that he chose